David Beckham shared his beekeeping hobby with millions of Instagram followers to mark World Bee Day – something he shares with two key members of the royal family. Prince William’s wife Kate Middleton has been a passionate beekeeper for years, a pastime she shares not just with her brother James but with her estranged sister-in-law Meghan Markle.

Meghan fled the country with Prince Harry for Montecito, California, with Harry repeatedly claiming that his family would not be safe in the UK without taxpayer-funded security measures. He lost his court battle to secure them, however, and the couple then met with Brooklyn Beckham and his wife Nicola in the aftermath of an alleged “feud” between them and David. Amid claims of a major new “power couple alliance”, with Brooklyn and Harry and Nicola and Meghan apparently quickly hitting it off, David is alleged to have been “absolutely furious”.

Despite his eldest son flying all the way to Britain from his US home at the time of David’s birthday earlier this month, he didn’t attend any of the celebrations, with a reported “feud” focused on brother Romeo’s choice of girlfriend.

David hasn’t addressed any of the issues publicly, but did post a video of himself grinning broadly as he delightedly extracted honeycomb from the bees’ offerings.

He posted a honeypot emoji, writing: “Making the world a sweeter place. Today we celebrate our Bees #WorldBeeDay.”

The post, which some have interpreted as a swipe at Meghan Markle, was liked by over 182,000 followers.

Kate Middleton also posted a video on her own social media account with Prince William, marvelling that she was “celebrating a small insect with a big job” and reminding the world: “Bees pollinate our flowers, plants and crops, support biodiversity and keep our ecosystems thriving.”

It comes after estranged sister-in-law Meghan shared footage of herself doing exactly the same thing as she attempted beekeeping for the debut episode of her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan.

At the time, she described the unusual choice of hobby as “a little reminder to do something that scares you a little bit”.

She added: “I’m trying to stay in the calm of it, because it’s beautiful to be this connected.”